Optically active 1,2,4-butanetriol is an important starting material for synthesis of various medicaments (for example, antiviral agents). The known methods for production of optically active 1,2,4-butanetriol that have been conventionally used include the method of preparing it by reducing (S)- or (R)-malic acid ester (for example, Tandon et al., J. Org. Chem. 40, 2767 (1983)) and the method of synthesizing (R)-1,2,4-butanetriol from L-erythritol (Van der Eycken et al., Tetrahedron Lett. 28, 4759, (1987)). However, these methods are economically disadvantageous in that they require expensive catalysts.
The known methods utilizing microorganisms include the method of allowing (R)-1,2,4-butanetriol to remain from a mixture of enantiomers of 1,2,4-butanetriol by using a microorganism belonging to the genus Pseudomonas (Japanese Laid-open Publication No. Hei 6-209781). However, the method has a drawback in that the concentration of the product is low.
There has been no report on the method of production of (S)-1,2,4-butanetriol from a mixture of enantiomers of 1,2,4-butanetriol by utilizing a microorganism.